This application is related to U.S. Pat. No. 5,672,818 issued to Schaefer et al. on Sep. 30, 1997.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to throttle control valves and, more particularly, to throttle valve position sensors for a geared throttle control valve.
2. Related Art
Heretofore, throttle valve adjusting units with control motors with geared transmissions have been known. One such device is exhibited in U.S. Pat. No. 5,672,818 to Schaefer et al., incorporated herein by reference. This device provides the advantage that the lid includes motor electronic connection components thereon that would previously have required soldering between the lid and motor. Further, this device provides the advantage of having the potentiometer path mounted on the lid. As a result, the connection of the sensor and motor can be made simply by mounting the lid in a single operation. Further, the device can be easily produced by mass production. However, a disadvantage of this type device is that the sensor requires contact between components thereof, which deteriorate over time and, hence, can foul the geared transmission when breakage occurs.
While non-contacting position sensors, such as those of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,798,639, 5,757,179 and 5,712,561, all to McCurley et al. and all incorporated herein by reference, have also been used, none of these devices have been applied in a geared transmission setting.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a non-contacting throttle valve position sensor for use with a throttle control valve having a throttle valve shaft controlled by a control motor through a geared transmission.